Odrysian Kingdom

The Odrysian Kingdom was a union of Thracian tribes that existed from 480 BC to 46 AD. The Odrysians were a mixture of the Greek and Thracian cultures, as they spoke Greek and blended a Greek military style and Hellenic civilization with their own tribal monarchy. The kingdom was founded by King Teres I, who took advantage of the Persian Empire's defeat in Greece to unite the Thracian tribes under one banner, ending nominal Persian control over Thrace. Under Sitalces, the kingdom encompassed Bulgaria and parts of northern Greece and coastal Romania along the Black Sea. However, Philip II of Macedon conquered much of Thrace in the mid-4th century BC, and invasions by Lysimachus' Macedonians and the Celts had reduced the kingdom to a third of its former size by 272 BC, holding Odessos in the region of Thrace. In 146 BC, the fragmented Odrysian kingdom was conquered by the Roman Republic, and it became a vassal of Rome in 100 BC. In 46 AD, the Odrysian king was murdered by his wife, and the kingdom was completely subjected to the Roman Empire.